Convincing Your Property Manager to Support a Stairway to Health Program

1. Determine the Commitment Required from the Property Manager
Before you approach your Property Manager with any requests, determine the commitment you require from them and what you are willing to contribute. A good way to start is to examine all your intended activities and determine who will be responsible for what. For example if your plan is to decorate the stairways, your commitment might be to supply all the paint and the Property Manager's commitment would be to give you permission to paint. Another example could be signage, where you would design and pay for the signage and the Property Manager would give you permission to secure it to the wall. Once you have determined all the areas in which you need commitment from your Property Manager, you are ready to proceed.

2. Involve Key Stakeholders
Property Managers often have a variety of tenants in a building, therefore it is important that you gain support from as many as possible before approaching your Property Manager. Have a meeting with all key stakeholders to let them know what you are planning to do and if possible get their support in writing. Getting senior management involved is usually the best way to leverage support from Property Managers, so plan to have Senior managers from your company as well as other key stakeholder companies on board.

3. Anticipate Barriers and Determine Possible Solutions
Once you have determined all the commitments needed from your Property Manager, brainstorm any potential barriers and determine possible solutions. Consult with other companies in your building or colleagues who have worked with the Property Manager in the past for tips on how to approach any difficult situations. Additionally, plan to consult the barriers fact sheet to review any barriers you may have missed.

4. Request a Meeting
Once you have the support of key stakeholders, have determined the commitment required and have anticipated all the barriers, it is now time to have a meeting with your Property Manager. This meeting can be as formal or as informal as you want, the key is to describe what you want to do, articulate the support you have in place (key stakeholders, resources- human and financial) and answer any questions the Property Manager might have. Plan to have a Senior Manager contact the Property Manager to request a 30 minute meeting, then book the time in both agendas (the Senior Manager should also be in attendance at the meeting). Send an agenda 2-3 days prior to the meeting outlining what you are planning to present and any background materials you feel would be useful. A powerpoint presentation is always a good option and depending on the technology available to you, you can plan to run the presentation or simply print it off and go through it manually. To assist you, please consider using the stairway to health powerpoint template. This powerpoint template explains benefits for the Property Manager and allows you to add in the commitment requested, supports you have in place, timelines and next steps.

5. Secure Commitment
At the end of your meeting secure some kind of commitment from your Property Manager to proceed with the requests, commit to another meeting or agree to future discussions. Set dates for getting back to them on any questions and if further discussions are needed, book the time before you leave.

6. Moving Forward
Once you have commitment from your Property Manager set up a process to keep them informed by asking them to participate as a member of your Stairway to Health Committee or setting up regular meetings. By keeping them informed and involved you will have on-going support to move forward on the program and present any new initiatives.